Major League Baseball chief operating officer Rob Manfred, right, who could become the next commissioner, walks with Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio during the quarterly owners meetings at the Hyatt Regency.

Major League Baseball chief operating officer Rob Manfred, right, who could become the next commissioner, walks with Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio during the quarterly owners meetings at the Hyatt Regency. (Barbara Haddock Taylor, Baltimore Sun)

Representatives of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams were back behind closed doors Thursday morning, first in a full meeting of all the owners and then in smaller discussion groups. They are expected to begin voting to select the next commissioner by early afternoon.

There is a clear favorite in the pending vote to determine who replaces longtime commissioner Bud Selig, but the coronation of Major League Baseball chief operating officer Rob Manfred is not a foregone conclusion.

The timing of Bud Selig’s pre-retirement news conference at Camden Yards Tuesday was delicious. It was 20 years to the day after major league players walked out and initiated the most disastrous labor showdown in baseball history.